Small Mistakes
by Baruk Khazad
Summary: Tony finds a book in his lab and thinks nothing of it. When he reads a page, he turns into a child. When Steve gets a little too over protective, Tony has had enough. One thing leads to another and that leads to another and Steve winds up in the past. Now he has to go find Tony and figure out Tony's feelings for him.
1. Chapter 1

It didn't all happen in one day. No this took weeks in the making. It took Loki a long time to finally be able to put his plan in action. He thought that maybe he should take over the picturebox and announce that 'Iron Man and Captain America should stop screwing around and screw,' but he knew that it wouldn't work.

So every so often Loki would plant a seed. Not one of friendship or anything normal, but one that would change both their lives. Not his, but Anthony Starks and Steve Rogers. It was easy enough. Making Tony decide to thank Steve whenever he did something nice or making Steve make Tony food or drink when he needed it. This continued on until they started following a routine. Steve would make breakfast, Tony would stop running around either partying or working on one of his projects, then Steve would make dinner. It was the same thing over and over. Until nothing happened.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, months turned into a year, and a year was too long for Loki to wait. So he made another move. One that wouldn't get him caught, but would bring the other two together. It made sense really, the two of them being together. Loki thought as he appeared in the new "Stark Towers" to bring the unwitting pair together.

Loki waltzed through the empty house, only being seen by Jarvis, the buildings AI butler. Though he would never outright admit it, Jarvis was working with Loki to bring his Master and Mr. Rogers together.

"Ah I see the Mischief Maker has returned. What is it that you would like to do now?" Jarvis asked as Loki walked down to the Stark's elevator and down to Tony's lab. "What are you doing in the Laboratory?"

"I'm just putting something down for 'The Iron Man,'" Loki said sarcastically. "Hopefully he'll find what I put down for him. He is a dunce at relationships, but this may help a little." He held up the book for Jarvis to see.

"Ah, a book on magic. I see how that could be of use to you, but how will it help Master Stark and Mr. Rogers?" For a simple computer, he pulled off sounding confused very well.

"It will help. If he finds the right spell." Loki smirked, marking the page with the silk strand connected to the book. "There, it should make it easy for him to find the spell." He placed the book on the table right before he heard people walking into the apartment. "Oops, gotta get going," Loki smirked and walked back out the way he came.

Poor Steve and Tony didn't know the trouble they were getting in when they walked into their house. Steve had started living there when his apartment had been burned down. Some old lady had left a dish towel on the stove and burned the building down. No one was hurt luckily, but it did leave some homeless. Some stayed with relatives while others, only Steve, had no where else to go. S.H.I.E.L.D. had tried to set him up somewhere, but it didn't work out very well. Agent Coulson then offered to take him in, but that didn't work out either. Agent Barton didn't like his husband's idol living with him while he was away. So then Tony took him in.

And that was worse than anywhere else he tried to live. Steve knew it was wrong, but he like men. His first crush was Bucky. Bucky alway protected him and gave him comfort in his times of need. His second crush was Howard Stark, Tony's father. Howard was sophisticated and elegant and everything that was sexy in those times.

Then, then he met Tony. And Tony was better than either of the two. He was sophisticated and caring. Elegant yet gentle and comforting. He was human. Human enough to fall in love with Pepper, who later dumped him for someone else, leaving Tony to go through weeks of depression and silence only brightening when Steve played a marathon of horror movies and ate ice cream with him. Human enough to cry at the end of "Marley and Me." Human enough to go through alcohol addiction and back. All this and he was human. The thought made Steve fall in love with him all the more.

But the problem was not one sided. Tony was going through the same things he was. Sure he had his fair share of women under his belt, but he also had a sizeable amount of men under there too. Some were nobodys, others business partners, but none of them meant anything. Then he was there for the thawing of Capsicle, he admired the older man from when he was a child. From all the fights he heard, he was sure his father had some kind of relationship with the Cap, but just couldn't place it. Later finding out his father was crushing on the guy.

Tony couldn't really blame him though. Ever since he was 17 he knew that Captain America was his one and only. Not that it mattered back then. The Cap didn't exist, S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't exist, Iron Man didn't exist. All there was was Tony Stark. The boy with no home, no family, no loved ones. Hell, not even a dog! No one. So he clung on to the only thing he had left. His childhood idol. The only thing that didn't leave him alone in the dark. And Steve still didn't. No matter what Tony did or didn't do, Steve was there. Given it had been a rough start, but it all worked out in the end. So far anyway.

"I don't know why you make me carry on the groceries Tony. I know you're perfectly capable of carrying them," Steve complained walking in with no less than 30 bags in his arms. Tony smirked and took off the sunglasses he had been wearing.

"But Steve, a man such as myself should never carry the bags. And you insisted on going shopping after breakfast, so that makes the bags your problem," Tony reasoned.

"No, I told you that we needed more food in the house and asked you where my bike was. You were the one to insist on coming with me. Then you didn't even carry a bag! Not even the bread bag Tony."

"I couldn't risk harming my delicate hands," Tony joked when he knew he had no other excuse. Steve rolled his eyes, finally giving up trying to reprimand him. "You can place the bags on the counter. Since I didn't help with carrying the bags, I'll help put away the food."

"No you won't," Steve said, placing the bags on the counter. "What you'll probably do is sit on the counter and eat snacks."

"Hey! That is so putting food away!" Tony argued hopping on the counter. He leaned over the bags and started searching around for candy or junk food. "Where are the donuts I bought?" He started worrying. He never forgot donuts, never! Donuts were his comfort food.

"We," Steve corrected placing a small bag of chocolate and powder donuts in the bag. "Sarah placed them next to the ice cream and chocolate syrup." Tony perked up as he spoke.

"Sarah? Who's Sarah?"

"She's the Checkout lady. She usually helps me find the things I need, like food and stuff. Sometimes we just talk and hang out. She's offered me to go out for coffee, but I'm not a big coffee drinker." They were stuck in an uncomfortable silence after that. Tony really didn't like silence and so he jumped down, placing the goodies on the kitchen, and leaving to go sulk in his lab.

"Jarvis, lock the doors. I don't want to see anyone right now," Tony sighed, plopping down in one of the many stools littering the room. Jarvis didn't reply, but simply locked the doors as requested. "Thanks, I just need a few minutes to think. Dammit Steve, you always have to say something." Tony sighed placing his head on the desk. There was something under him. A book? "What the hell," he sat up and looked down.

"What is it sir?" Jarvis asked. Tony lifted the book and Jarvis instantly recognized it as a token from Loki. "Ah, I see you've brought a book into your lab. Why don't you open it up and see what's inside. Reading my help sooth the nerves."

Tony rolled his eyes. The only books he'd ever read was- when had he last read a book? Well he guessed it wasn't too late to change that. Tony opened the book and skimmed through it. One of them caught his eye and he started chanting it. Reading it off the page as best he could. He didn't think much of it when he started reading, but after a while there was a bright light and everything hurt. Tony cried out in pain.

From all the way upstairs Steve could hear the scream. He jumped and ran down stairs, knowing that the elevator would take too long. As he ran he called to Jarvis.

"Jarvis! Jarvis where's Tony?!" He ran faster looking for his crush. It was taking too long to find him.

"Master Stark is down in the laboratory," Jarvis replied instantly.

"Unlock the doors," Steve commanded.

"Master Stark has asked that I-"

"Jarvis, open the damn door!" Steve cried when he reached the lab. He knew Tony had a bad habit of locking the door when he was bored or alone. Jarvis didn't argue after that and opened the door. He knew Steve meant business. Steve never cursed and when he did it was usually because of pain, desperation, or anger. In this case it was desperation.

Steve threw the door open and ran in. "Tony? Tony where are you?!" There was a groaned mumble and a shuffling behind the main desk in the room. Steve ran over and looked down. There was some kid laying on the floor. The child groaned something mysteriously like "Jarvis" then something like "Steve."

No, this- this couldn't be right. "Tony? What- what happened to you? Is that even you?" The little boy pulled himself up to his knees and looked around.

"Why is everything so big?" Tony looked up to his desk and ceiling. Why did they look so far away? This was all so wrong. "Steve?" Tony turned around to see the taller man behind him. "What happened? Did I fall asleep?" Tony stood, but Steve was still much taller than normal. "What happened to you? You're so tall!"

Steve shook his head, "No Tony, you've gotten shorter." Tony yelped as he looked down at himself. He had a long sleeved red shirt and small tan shorts on. He raised his hands to his face. Soft, smooth skin, no beard. He was a child!

"What the hell!" Tony cried. He ran around the lab, looking to see if he could find a mirror. Sadly there was none, but Steve did point him in the direction of his Iron Man suit. Tony hesitantly walked up to the armor. He only came up to the hip of the suit, though he was still able to look in. "I'm- I'm eight! I'm eight years old!"

"I- It's not that bad," Steve tried to amend, "it could be worse." Tony turned to glare at him, but with such an adorable face, it didn't look that terrifying.

"How? How could it be worse? You could be a child? Oh, I know, I could be dead." Tony joked flatly.

"Don't talk that way." Steve went and picked little Tony up. "I meant that it could have happened at a worse time. We could have been in the middle of a fight with Loki or something. So this seems like a good compromise. For now. What were you doing before all this happened?"

"Reading a book," Tony pouted, pointing to the desk he was behind. Steve moved Tony to his side, so he was hanging on his hip. As they moved to the desk, Steve spotted the book.

"This thing? Was this thing what you were reading?" Steve picked it up and looked for a title, none, author, none, whose book was this? He opened the cover, "Tony was Loki ever in your house?"

Tony shrugged, "Yeah, he broke in when we lost Coulson. Now that I think about it, what if Loki didn't kill Coulson on purpose? What if he just wanted a distraction? Just hurt Coulson enough to make us worry, ya know?"

Steve disregarded most of the answer, "I think that Loki might have placed this here before we found him."

"Why ya think that?" Tony asked snapping back to his senses.

"It has his name on it," Steve held up the book. Loki was written in nice curvy handwriting. "So, we should ask Thor, right?"


	2. Chapter 2

"So you're saying there's nothing we can do about, this?" Steve pointed to the little Tony munching on a piece of candy. He really didn't seem to care what was going on while he had candy. Thor was sitting on the couch in front of them, trying his hardest not to laugh.

"No, I am sorry Captain. The man of iron will have to wait a few weeks for this to go back to normal. My apologies," Thor tipped his head before standing and walking away. Tony looked up to Steve.

"Too bad Capsicle, looks like you're stuck with me." Tony said smacked Steve on the abdomen, "Don't worry about it Cap. Everything will be fine, I'm sure of it. One hundred sure actually. Now lets go get some donuts! Maybe that'll take away your 'always' serious' mood and stop being so uptight about everything, gosh." Tony started running towards the elevator.

Steve sighed and grabbed Tony before he could run farther, "I'm not always serious, nor am I uptight. We just have to make sure that everyone knows about this….. dilemma. Come on Tony, stop struggling," Tony started trying to twist and turn in Steve's grip, making it difficult to carry him. "Alright, what if I promise to let you ride on my motorcycle with me? I'm sure we can find you something to wear to protect you."

"Only if I get to ride in front." Steve nodded half heartedly. He didn't like the compromise but it would have to work.

When they arrived at the garage, Steve put his safety helmet on Tony and zipped him up in a much too big leather jacket. In turn, Steve placed Tony on the front of the bike, getting on behind him.

"Now don't fall off. If you feel like you're going to fall off just tell me and I'll stop and pull you back up. Just, just be careful." Steve stuck the key in and turned it, starting the motorbike. Tony cried out happily and tried to reach both of the handles. Steve shook his head and gently turned the handle. The bike roared to life and they were off, heading off in the direction of S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. Tony didn't fall off or tell Steve to stop the entire time they road. Steve was pretty impressed by it. Then again, Tony was a stubborn person (cough- cough- stubborn bastard- cough- cough).

"I wonder if anyone will recognize me. Do you think anyone will? Oh this is going to be the best day of my life!" Tony cried out fist pumping the air. "I wonder how they'll react. I mean stranger things have probably happened, but that doesn't mean they won't react differently. Fury will probably have a heart attack! Bruce will sigh and go back to work, Tasha probably won't do anything, Clint- oh god he's going to kick my ass for all those times I put bird food in his pancakes. I'm a dead man." Tony went pale.

"I don't think he'd be that bad. Plus Phil is here. He'll stop Clint from doing anything too terrible. Natasha will pinch your cheeks though, she does it to all children, or the ones I seen her with at least. Bruce might not even be here. I heard he went back on the road a few days ago. He could just be taking a trip, but Fury thinks it permanent. Also, I doubt Fury will have a heart attack. He seems in too good of health." Steve said taking all the gear off of Tony and placing it under his arm.

"Oh, thanks Steve, ruin my dream of a life free of Fury. That guy can cut through stone with just one look. And he knows it! He'll probably run tests on me or throw me in some containment facility until I get back to my original size. Oh god, the horrors he has in store for me. I change my mind, take me back home. I want to go back home." Tony gave Steve a pleading look and even though Steve wanted to say yes, he couldn't.

"I'm sorry Tony, but you're going to tell Fury what happened, even if I have to drag you in there myself," Tony glared up at the now even taller man.

"I'm not moving."

"Tony."

"I'm not."

"Tony please-"

"No."

"Tony!"

"NO!" Steve sighed, having had enough of Tony's attitude for today, and picked him up. "Put me down! Put me down!" Tony started kicking and screaming, but Seve still wouldn't put him down.

"Tony stop it! You're not a- nevermind," Steve carried him into the building. At a desk near the far side of the room was a man. "Um, hi. I'm here to- "

"We know why you're here. We've been waiting for you. Watch your hands, face, and the kid. Don't want him to lose or break anything." He pressed a button and the platform, which happened to be the S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia, started moving down. "The Director will be waiting for you when you reach the bottom." Steve nodded and put Tony down. He was too much in awe of what was going on around him to care where he was anymore.

And, as the man at the desk had said, Director Fury was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. "Captain, what brings you here on such short notice? I don't usually take surprise visits, but for you I'll make an exception. What can I do for you?"

"I'm just here to tell you that there was an accident at Stark Towers. No one was hurt, well, mostly hurt. But something did happen to Tony. He, I don't know how to explain this, he was turned-"

"Oh my god." Tony gasped looking around. "This place is so cool! Look at the tech they have here. Oh my god, is that footage of the New York incident? With Loki and all that stuff? Oh my gosh it is! How did you get it 3D like that? I've been trying to for weeks!" Tony ran up to the holographic image of himself.

"Care to explain why you brought a child here? To a secret government facility no less." Fury looked at Steve with an angry glare that told him to explain himself. Now.

"Remember what I told you about Tony? Well he kind of got-" again Tony cut him off.

"Oh don't be so hard on Cap, he's just trying to tell you that I go turned into a kid because I read some book that Loki left in my house." Fury turned his glare on the child.

"You did what? Do you know how much damage that could have caused? You could have brought some unending deadly plague to the world and it could have killed us all. You could have changed something in the past or future. Anything could have happened because you got curious. Your lucky nothing too terrible happened." Fury scolded him making Steve step back. This was a side of Fury that he had never seen before. "I'll send Coulson and his team in to collect the book."

"Excuse me, I know that Tony did something stupid, but it's not all his fault. It's not like he went to Loki and asked him for the book." Steve started defending Tony. Tony just looked so down and sad after Fury had yelled at him and Steve couldn't stand seeing him like that. "Yes anything could have happened, but it didn't. And that's a win in my book. No one was hurt and that's all that matters." Fury sighed.

"Alright you motherfuckers," Fury compromised, "I'll send you home with Agent Romanoff. She'll escort you home. We'll send your bike later." Steve nodded in agreement. "Romanoff is waiting outside for you. I don't think you should keep her waiting. Oh and Tony," Tony and Steve turned to look back at Fury. "I'm glad your okay, but don't make it a habit. Now get your asses out of here I'm busy." Fury turned and walked away. Steve smiled at Tony's triumphant grin.

"Hi, I'm here to take you to Agent Romanoff," a nice young lady said coming up to them. She had her hair in a tight pony tail with a black dress shirt and skirt. "Were going to go through the facility to the other exit. You can look, but don't touch." She turned and went down to eye level with Tony, "Don't touch, okay?" She smiled. Tony nodded, pretending to be innocent. "Good, now follow me," she stood and walked away. Steve grabbed Tony and went to catch up with her, she didn't even look back at them as she left.

As fast as they had entered the building, they were outside of it even quicker. The women led them out and closed the door behind them. "Here's your car boys. I hope you had a nice trip, but don't forget to call. Also," her face turned to one of annoyance, "there's a no child allowed policy. So don't bring him next time."

"Misha," Tasha popped opened the on the black car she was in. "I wouldn't talk to Tony Stark or Steve Rogers that way. You see, they can kick your ass without even trying. Now get back to Fury, I'm sure he can't function without his lap dog," Tasha sneered, Misha gave her an equally distasteful look and walked away.

"What was all that about? Does she not like us for some reason?" Steve asked. Natasha didn't answer, but ushered them in the car. Once inside Natasha started talking.

"Sorry about her. She just started and she's a total bitch. Even Maria thinks so and that's say something. I don't know why she's like that, but she is. Anyway what's going on with Tony? I knew he was short, but good lord what happened?" Steve tried to stop his chuckle, which didn't work, and whip his smile away.

"Oh haha," Tony gave a fake laugh. "I'm so sorry I'm short. Why did Fury send you to come with us anyway? I'm sure we could have done fine on our own."

"I requested it. Clint and Coulson are coming around to pick up the book and I wanted to see them. Is that so hard to understand?" Tony shook his head.

"Ya know, your rooms are still up if ya ever want to have a super-hero-sleepover-party. That and I can't stand being alone with Steve anymore," Steve shot a look at Tony. "He makes he sleep and eat and take time off of work! I don't even know this man," he pointed to Steve.

"Hey, just because I-"

"Love birds, love birds, stop fighting. It's not like it can be that bad. I wish I had someone sexy that cared enough to keep me in good health like you do. I mean really, who doesn't want someone sexy looking after them?" Natasha nudged Tony before leaning up and pinching his cheeks. "Ah, children, so cute!" Tony batted her hands away and rubbed his cheeks, she had a tough grip.

"We're here," Natasha nodded and exited the car, Steve and Tony following.

"Looks like Coulson beat us here,"Natasha nodded towards a large plane with another S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia on it.

"What? That's what Coulson got from Fury? Aw man, maybe I should die and come back," Natasha glared and punched Tony in the head. "Alright, I'm sorry I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of it. Agent's like a dad to me anyways, he's always keeping me out of trouble. If it weren't for him I'm sure Fury would have killed me by now. Come on Steve, lets go greet the guests," Tony sighed as he walked towards his own house.

"Ah Tony," Coulson smirked watching as the child came in through the front door. "Your AI told me what happened, I can't say I believed him until now. Sorry to intrude on your house, but it looks like we need to pick something up. That and I have some people that would like to meet you. Tony Stark meet Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. They take after you."

"Is this him?" A young blonde haired girl asked looking at him. Another man, also blonde but with curly hair, came up behind her. "He's so tiny. Are you sure this isn't his son or something? They do look similar."

"And he's just a kid, Tony Stark is much older than this. And I imagined him taller." The man raised his hand above eye level showing how tall he thought Tony was.

"No I'm Tony Stark. I accidentally read something out of one of Loki's books and this happened. I built Jarvis and Dummy and every other appliance in this house. It wasn't easy, let me tell you that. Even when I built the first Iron Man suit I only had scraps of metal." Fitz and Simmons looked astonished by what Tony was saying.

"Can we see it?" Fitz asked with stars in his eyes.

"Yes, yes can we?" Simmons agreed.

Tony shrugged, "Alright I guess. I didn't have the heart to throw the damn thing away so it's probably all beat up, but it still looks good. C'mon I'll show you to the lad, this way," Tony crossed his arms and walked through the main floor to a spiral like staircase leading down to his lad. Along the way Fitz and Simons were oohing and ahhing at everything.

"I knew it was the right idea to bring them, now where's the book? I still have to do my job," Steve nodded and also took him to Tony's lab. Upon piles of metal scraps was a thin hard back green book.

"Here you go Coulson," Steve took the book and handed it to him. "So how's…. recovery going?" Coulson looked pained for a moment, as if he knew something, but wasn't telling anyone. Steve quickly changed the subject. "Why did you get those guys? I thought you would have more…. muscle in your group."

"Sorry I'm late," a older looking brunette man came running up to Coulson, he was followed by two other women. One was younger with a silver band on her wrist while the other looked older and more experienced. "And who's this?"

Coulson was about to answer, but Steve did it for him. "Hi, I'm Steve Rogers." He held out his hand. That other man looked at him for a moment before grabbing his hand and giving it a solid shake. "Call me Steve."

"You can call me Ward," he nodded over his shoulder to the left, where the younger girl was. "That's Skye and the others May." Steve nodded to both of them.

"Hello May, hello Skye," May gave him a nod and turned to look at the view, Steve thought the view was rather nice. "How is it like living in, uh, that?" He gave a look to the plane.

"It sucks," Skye started, she pouted and crossed her arms. "I can't do anything and now I have restrictions."

"Well I'm sure they did it for a good reason, they wouldn't do it for nothing," Skye gave him a glare before softening her gaze.

"Y'know, if you weren't cute I would hate you right now," Steve broke into a smile. "Now where are Fitz and Simmons?"

"They went that way, Tony's showing them his first suit," Steve pointed down a hallway adjacent to them. "Do you want to go too? I don't think he would mind company though they might talk a bunch a tech stuff." Skye squealed and went after Tony and the others.

"So that's where Fitz went?" Ward blurted before he could stop it. "Never mind."

"You like him don't you?" Steve asked. Ward flushed and turned his head. "You don't have to be ashamed of it. Not in this time at least. In the 40's everything was different. Homosexuality was just starting to become more…. out there. Not everyone accepted it right off the bat and most hated and discriminated people who like the same gender. I see my life back then when I was scared to admit my differences and I see my life now with Tony and the Avengers were my differences are open and they don't care."

"You really put thought in this didn't you? Yes I like the kid, but thats' it, he's only a kid. He deserves someone that can make him happy. Now can we please change the subject?" Ward asked turning away again. Steve smiled and nodded.

"Where did Coulson go?" Steve and Ward looked around.

"Hawkeye and Widow met up with him while you two were talking, they went to talk. Coulson has been missing Clint since the last time they were together. They went to catch up in the bus. Widow went with them to make sure they don't go crazy while there alone." May spoke up. She had been so silent both men forgot she was there. They flushed in embarrassment. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone about Stark or Fitz. Both of you will come around eventually. Besides, Valentine's Day is in a few days. Be happy."

Steve and Ward gave each other a look, not quite sure how to take her words of wizdom.


End file.
